Ukraine bans import of 25 Russian books

Officials in Kiev have banned 25 books published in Russia from reaching readers in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting refused to issue import permits for 25 Russian books during a meeting on 10 January, the country’s Interfax news agency reported.

The committee said that the decision had been made by an expert council who had “analysed and evaluated” the books.

The list includes Russian translations of Antony Beevor’s Stalingrad, Lenin’s Daughter: A Look at History by Edvard Radzinsky, To My Matilde: Love Letters and Diaries of Nicholas II by Boris Sokolov, and Orthodoxy: An Honest Conversation by Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the former ultraconservative spokesperson for the Russian Orthodox Church.

Also in the firing line are two non-fiction books on the Russian state from celebrated author Boris Akunin, and several children’s books.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a law on 30 December 2016 restricting imports of “foreign products with anti-Ukrainian content”. The government in Kiev proceeded to suspend all imports of Russian books between 1 January and 1 April 2017, but did not scrapped the ban following a public outcry from the country’s publishers.

Source: Interfax Ukraine